by Marjorie D. Grevious, Evangelist for Spiritual Healing
Watch the sermon recording on YouTube.
Welcome to Women’s History Month! I am so excited to be here as we transition from Black History Month, where I profiled four Black women pivotal in the work of freedom and justice, to this first day in March where we celebrate Miriam the first prophetess in the Bible. A few months ago I was given a book entitled “The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature” by Rabbi Rami Shapiro. In this relatively small but dense work Rabbi Shapiro examines the feminine understanding of Wisdom, known as Chochma in the Hebrew, and Sophia in The Greek. The Divine Feminine is not biologically female, just as God is not biologically male. Rabbi Shapiro writes: “I do not believe that God is literally male or that Chochma (Wisdom) is literally female. We are not dealing with biologic facts but with theological archetypes residing within each of us. What is needed is the marriage of the two within the individual.” Intro, p xix
Rabbi Shapiro understood the Divine Feminine as the embodiment of God’s creative, nurturing, and guiding intelligence. She represents the active, immanent, and compassionate aspect of the divine. In Proverbs chapter 8 Wisdom is described as co-creator with God using feminine pronouns. I found it interesting to learn that King Solomon, the wisest man to have ever lived, was one of several male co-authors of Proverbs who purposely describes wisdom in the feminine. This is important today because, as Rabbi Shapiro writes, “First because Wisdom is a woman and women haven’t fared well in the Western religious tradition of the past three thousand years . . . the norm in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is to downplay the role of women. One way to do that is to ignore the role of Mother, Chochma, in creation and the life of us creatures.” If, like me, you were raised by a single-mom who taught you that God was the only Father you would ever need, or that there was this great all powerful male figure in the sky, you might cling to the idea of this single male deity for dear life.
This book blew my head open and caused me to reread just the introduction multiple times. I had to sit with it and this new idea of God as this multi-dimensional being encompassing male, female, and them (because if you come from the south as I do, then you know we have always had an all encompassing ‘them’, or as we say down home an’nem)- But these definitions are not at all tied to our humanly constructed understandings of gender and sex at all. Rabbi Shapiro writes: “Wisdom is not silent, but you must become silent if you expect to hear Her. She calls above the din, but the din is of your own making . . . . The noise is your narrow mind, the relative self of ego, incessantly chanting its mantra: ‘I, me, mine’. As long as you focus on this, you cannot hear Wisdom at all.”
You see, what I got out of this is, We must sit still and get quiet to hear God, to receive Wisdom, and to be guided by grace. Wisdom/Sophia functions theologically and experientially as a feminine dimension of God that has been marginalized in later Jewish and Christian reception. Recovering Sophia restores balance to theological language, deepens spiritual practice, and reorients ethics toward care and relationality. *Whew* I love a good theological paradox! Hopefully it all comes together as we continue on with Miriam.
The seder is the Jewish ceremonial meal and retelling of the Passover story on the first two nights of Passover. Miriam played such an important role in the Exodus from Egypt, that in the 1980’s a Miriam’s Cup, which is filled with water, was added to the seder table next to Elijah’s cup which is filled with wine. Miriam’s cup symbolizes the well of water that sustained the Israelites in the desert. Adding Miriam’s Cup to the seder table is also an act of inclusion honoring the crucial role of women in the Exodus, Passover, and other stories of triumph over oppression and injustice for the Jewish people.
In this relatively new tradition someone may “fill or raise Miriam’s cup after the recitation of the Ten Plagues and before the song dayenu, which carries the story of the Exodus through the crossing of the Red Sea and into the wilderness–moments during which Miriam played an important role. Others use Miriam’s Cup along with Elijah’s Cup toward the close of the seder, with Elijah representing the herald of the messiah, and Miriam, a prophet, urging us to do the work to bring about redemption.”
(https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/miriams-cup/#:~:text=Sign%20Up)
I looked up the definition of redemption and it read:
1.the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.
2. the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
3. (Archaic) the action of buying one’s freedom.
We first encounter a young, unnamed Miriam, as a big sister in Exodus chapter 2 which reads in part: 3 When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,[a] ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out[b] of the water.’
The role of Miriam as big sister is what I identify with most. Now, I am a first born daughter, born to a first born daughter, and I am now married to a first born daughter. Like Miriam, each of us have at least two younger brothers that we love dearly. Like Miriam, each of us have stood alongside our mothers in protecting, loving, and comforting our brothers in a harsh cruel world that seeks to demean and kill them. We kind of brush over the importance of this story and the incredible repercussions of her actions. In her first act of redemption, Miriam watches Moses be found by Pharaoh’s daughter and offers their own mother to be his wet nurse. This meant Moses got to be with his mother and family during the most tender and crucial years of childhood as the weaning age was three to five years old during biblical times. Child development experts today cite the first five years of a child’s life as the most important as the brain reaches 90% of its growth during this time, setting the foundation for learning and social emotional development. The wisdom of a young Miriam helped save Moses from the evils of certain death as a Hebrew child born under Pharaoh’s rule. She helped their mother regain possession of her son, who would later bring about the freedom of their people. This is Miriam, as The Divine Feminine, acting on innate wisdom as a young girl doing the work of redemption.
Many artistic renderings of Miriam show her with tambourine in hand, leading the women in jubilant praise after crossing the Red Sea having fled Egypt after hundreds of years in bondage. They got to witness the Egyptians drown in the sea as they crossed dry land through the sea. Exodus 15: 19-20 reads
The Song of Miriam
19 When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’
I had thought this image of a dancing, singing Miriam diminished the importance of her role as the first prophetess as she is so named in this passage from Exodus. I learned that Miriam and her tambourine are important realizations of a deeply cultivated faith that was made manifest in their liberation from Egypt. They celebrate not only their freedom, and the miracle of walking across the Red Sea, but also the triumph over their enemies as they are thrown into the sea. This joy came from a deep trust in God and victory over oppression. >What might your faith lead you to prepare your tambourine to celebrate upon its realization? What oppressions are you trusting God to vanquish for you? Are you bold enough in your faith like Miriam and the women to bring your tambourine in anticipation of the liberation, healing and joy to come? Or will you wait until after you receive your proof from God to get your tambourine ready for praise?
Now to put this great exodus in context, I read that the Red Sea is about 75 miles from Egypt. The most narrow point at which they may have crossed it is about 12-18miles. It is estimated that there were about 2 million Israelites of every age, shape, and size on the Exodus- along with all of their portable belongings. It was no small undertaking when they left Egypt. They were a traumatized people who had survived centuries of bondage, mistreatment, plagues, and genocide.Their celebration after being seemingly trapped between the sea and their swiftly approaching enemy is a heartfelt communal response to God as deliverer. This fully embodied praise and worship was led by Miriam, recognized leader by her people, and her brothers Moses and Aaron. This act of praise to God turned a most arduous journey into one of honoring their passage into a new life filled with promise over despair. They stepped into the realization of so many prayers. >When have you faced the proverbial rock and hard place as the Israelites did between the sea and the oncoming chariots? What do you do in the liminal space between what was, and your deliverance into something new? Do you fret and worry, getting lost in your anxieties, or do you lift your heart and mind in praise for your freedom from what bound you, anticipating with great faith God’s grace and blessings to come? How do you face your enemies?
Like many women in the Bible, not many scriptures are written about Miriam. Had Miriam, in her youthful wisdom, not reconnected Moses back to their mother, who would he have become if nursed by some other grieving Hebrew mother? Would he have even survived Pharoah’s edict to kill all male-born Hebrew children? Had Miriam not led the women by lifting her voice in praise and worship to God would the spirit of the people have survived the lengthy crossing of the Red Sea? Even today from slave hymns, to civil rights marching songs, and our own local government occupation-the singing of songs has been used to uplift the spirit and illuminate the heart from what was, to what could be. Like wisdom, music is classically personified as feminine. That Divine Feminine spirit that acts as co-creator, that moves in quiet stillness like inspiration to motivate us to right action.
Miriam as big sister acts almost like Shekinah, the Hebrew word for the feminine in-dwelling of God, or the Holy Spirit. Miriam is a constant presence noted by her irregular appearance throughout the scriptures over a span of time. She watches over Moses as an infant, through and out of Egypt, and into the desert.
( https://ritualwell.org/ritual/miriam-and-feminine-divine/) Even when she was struck with leprosy for speaking against Moses, the entire camp did not move for seven days until she was healed. Her very presence was so important that Moses pleaded with God for her healing. Miriam as a personification of The Divine Feminine teaches us that our presence matters. That wisdom speaks with a loud clear voice within us and can move us to do great things in seemingly small acts. In Micah 6:4 God recounts Miriam alongside Moses and Aaron as one of the leaders divinely sent to lead them out of Egypt. Her praise and worship at the crossing of the Red Sea reminds us to celebrate what we have been through and overcome as we prepare for a new life free of bondage and despair.> Like Miriam, are you hearing the Divine Feminine Wisdom within you? Does she inspire and motivate you to be ever-ready, watchful and mindful to move with God’s direction?
Miriam steps onto Scripture’s stage as sister, sentinel, and singer. Through her courage, creativity, and communal care, we glimpse the Divine Feminine—God’s nurturing, liberating, and life-bearing presence moving through a woman’s body and voice.
Like Miriam are you willing to be led by The Divine Feminine, allowing it to inform and guide you in all the roles you play in life to fulfill Her divine purpose for you? I urge you to be still and know…
